silly

more weekend

On the way back from Wicked, we stopped to eat, then just missed a train once again. Once again, just by minutes. Oh, my timing. But we did get the next train, after sitting in Grand Central for a few minutes relaxing after our 7 block trek from the theater (crowded, broken New York sidewalks and subways are not especially wheelchair friendly).

The train rides were uneventful and long. It was nice to have time to just sit and chat, catching up on the past year. None of the grandparents had seen Juma for almost a full year, so they had lots of fun playing with him, asking him questions, and playing tickle monster, hugging monster, and kissing monster. What more could a six-year-old ask for than four grandparents drowning him with attention, while riding on a train?




Sunday everyone met us at our house once again, and Juma and I walked them to church a few blocks away. As I haven't attended LDS church services is a few years, I didn't know that the time had changed; I got them there a half an hour late. Woops. Afterward, we had planned on a walk over to the art museum, but got a little tired and lazy and ended up hanging out at our apartment talking and playing a rousing game of Apples to Apples (Vicki wailed on all of us).

In the afternoon, we took another campus tour, this time with everyone, and saw extra things this time: Skull & Bones (the secret society several US presidents belonged to) as well as other secret societies, the law school, the gymnasium that looks like Notre Dame, and got thoroughly wiped out. We had bought items for a lovely picnic, but just as we got home from the tour the rained started, so we had a lovely picnic at the dining table inside.

Monday was graduation. Here are videos of me walking at two different ceremonies, one for my master of arts and one for my master of public health.




And of course we can't forget that Hillary Rodham Clinton got an honorary degree.

field trip

I went along with Juma's class on a field trip to the local newspaper offices. His teacher wanted to make sure the kids got a chance to see how newspapers are made (since the new media seem to pushing good old fashioned newspapers out of the market).



I took the movie for Justin's sake, really, but if you're up for it, take a look. Don't worry, it's only some highlights, not the whole tour.

weekend visit

I posted the pictures, but I thought I'd tell about the weekend, too.

Rick and Vicki (Justin's parents) flew in Thursday night, so we had all day Friday to hang out. We had grand plans of going to museums and aquariums, but those fizzled out and we did some simple hanging out, running to pharmacies (they lost Rick's medical kit in the Chicago airport), and a quick tour of campus. We saw the Hall of Graduate Studies, where Justin's department is,



and the gorgeous main library.



Bibliophiles that Vicki and I are, we couldn't resist a trip to the college bookstore, where we picked up a volume of Shel Silverstein for Juma (he recently discovered his poems in school), and Juma read an entire Pokemon book to himself.

Saturday, we welcomed my parents as well, and I gave everyone a tour of the historic church Justin works for, as well as the crypt underneath it.

Unfortunately, the crypt was a little too interesting, and we just missed a train to NYC by minutes. But we caught the next one, and saw Wicked on Broadway.



That was an amazing production. The sets, the music, the voices--all of it was great. Juma loved it ("except for the boring singing parts") and kept asking me, "When does she become a witch?!?!" At the spectacular end to the first act, when the witch flies up into the air during her dramatic song, Juma turned to me and said, "Now she's the witch!"





Stay tuned for the next post. Gotta run to a field trip with Juma's class...

growing

This morning, Juma called out to me from his bedroom, "Mom! I've grown!"

"Oh yeah?" I said, a little skeptical.

"Yeah. Do you know how I can tell?"

"How?"

"I can turn on the light in my room without having to use the stool!" The light in there is rather high up, and the switch has to be turned rather than pushed.

So we measured him on the chart we've been using for the past 18 months, and he's grown a good inch in the past month! People kept telling me he seemed to have just spurted up, but I didn't believe them. Silly me.

graduation day

our house

I finally figured out how to get the pictures from Justin's phone...so here, at long last, are some pictures of our "new" house from the outside.

pomp and circumstance

Mine's on the left: white for Master of Arts and salmon color for Master of Public Health

Justin's is on the right: blue for Master of Philosophy

Justin's apartment

Here's a look at Justin's house. It's an apartment attached to the back of a larger building. He has an excellent view of the verdant valley below. It's a studio apartment; he has a room and a bathroom (cold water only). He also has a bed, and a ceiling fan--when the electricity is working, which isn't often.




Justin took this shot on his computer the one time we managed to video chat. Isn't he a hottie?

I made it!

After a three-day trip I'm finally here in Pemba. I was met by all of our old friends here and promptly set up with a nice room close to the house we rented on our previous trips. I was so sleep deprived that I passed out seconds after putting down my bags on a bed with no sheets or pillowcases. Luckily, there were no mosquitos in the room because I didn't really wake up (except for calling Sarah) for about 18 hours. Now I'm "fit" as they say here in Pemba!

Yesterday I ate a fish with the head still on. His sharp little teeth made me laugh. I also went shopping for all the household supplies I need. It rained all day. And when I say "rained," I mean it came down in buckets, rained cats and dogs--I'm not sure how to express how it rains here. One step out the door and you're completely, soaking wet; another step and you're leaning your head forward so the water runs off and you don't drown.

This rain makes Pemba one of the most fertile places on the planet, but it also makes life interesting, to say the least.

My house has no electricity right now and there's no word on how long the outage will last. It could be hours, days or months. Fortunately the internet cafe does have electricity (for now), so I can actually get online. But my nights without a fan here just south of the equator will be a tossing-and-turning, sweaty mess. Why did I choose this place for my research again? Oh yeah, the people are fantastic, the food is divine, and it's as far from life in America as you can possibly get. (Not that I have anything against life in America--but sometimes we can forget what life's really about.)

I'm off for some coffee and chapati.